Frequently Asked Questions
1) What material do you use to make your hoppers?
2) How much material can your hoppers hold?
3) How many hoppers can be stacked to supply my processing machine?
4) Can we stack more than 2 hoppers for storage in our warehouse?
5) What is the weight restriction on your hopper design?
6) How secure are the hoppers when stacked into a silo configuration?
7) How exactly does your hopper system work to provide continuous flow of material with minimal operator attendance?
8) Can your hoppers be cleaned easily?
9) Where are your hoppers made?
10) What size of vacuum line is supplied?
11) How does your hoppers handle static
electricity?
12) Do the hoppers come with a connection that we can attach to our vacuum system?
13) What type of lids are provided with your hoppers?
14) Why don’t you offer larger capacity hopper?
1) What material do you use to make your hoppers?
The hoppers, lids, & bases are constructed of HDPE with a wall thickness of ¼” (.250 in). They are “fork-lift friendly”, and are rarely damaged.
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2) How much material can your hoppers hold?
Our hoppers have a volume capacity of 31 cubic ft. Even though they have a footprint about the same as standard Gaylord / skids (45 3/4" x 48 1/2 X48 1/2" tall), the volume is lower due to the 53° slope of the lower half of the hopper.
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3) How many hoppers can be stacked to supply my processing machine? We recommend that the hoppers be stacked no more than 2 high at (and to supply) the processing machine.
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4) Can we stack more than 2 hoppers for storage in our warehouse? It’s normal to stack 3 high for Mini-Silo storage. Recommended: 800 lbs / hopper X 3 = 2,400 lbs / mini-silo stack.
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5) What is the weight restriction on your hopper design? Our recommended hopper weight capacity is 800 lbs. However, this weight restriction is based upon the design weight that the bottom hopper can safely support in a three stacked hopper / silo system.
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6) How secure are the hoppers when stacked into a silo configuration? The lids are designed so that the footprint of the hopper bases & lids nest together to ensure a secure silo when stacked together. They can be easily moved 2 high into (or out of) a semi truck, and can be shipped stacked together two stacks wide with minimal chance of shifting during shipment.
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7) How exactly does your hopper system work to provide continuous flow of material with minimal operator attendance?
Due to the
inherent
ability of the HDPE material and design construction, our hoppers completely discharge any dry materials (pellet, flake, or powder), without any operator attention. As the top hopper empties into the lower hopper (whose level the operator can view through the
translucent
sides), it is replaced by a new filled hopper – thus ensuring a continuous feed supply to the processing machines feed-hoppers & feeder system.
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8) Can your hoppers be cleaned easily? When a hopper is needed to be filled by a different material or different color, cleaning is easily performed – again due to the inherent properties of the slick HDPE construction. The potential of cross contamination is basically “nill”.
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9) Where are your hoppers made? Our hoppers are Rotational Molded 100% in the USA of virgin HDPE (no regrind materials used).
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10) What size of vacuum line is supplied? A standard 2" threaded steel pipe is attached to the bottom of the Vacuum Hopper.
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11) How does your hoppers handle static
electricity?
Not all raw materials generate static electricity, but for those that do we recommend that the processor attach a ground line to the line that he attaches to the steel pipe at the hopper vacuum attachment. It's recommended that a 2" steel quick disconnect be used.
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12) Do the hoppers come with a connection that we can attach to our vacuum system?
Our standard offering does not include anything beyond the threaded steel pipe that can be seen in the detailed photographs in our web-site. We can offer quick disconnect fittings, but we have found that the cost adder for our plant to provide this feature is considerably higher than if the customer purchases this connection locally - or from several on-line web services. It's also been found that not all processors have the same type of vacuum systems - nor the same diameter lines. (In some cases transition from the processors diameter line to our hoppers 2" line is required. We can provide reference assistance to the customer so that he can purchase the correct attachment, at the least cost.)
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13) What type of lids are provided with your hoppers?
The lids are constructed of the same HDPE
material
as the hoppers, and also have a wall thickness of ¼” (.250 in). All lids are provided the same - meaning that a hole has to be cut into the lid that will be used for the "Vacuum Hopper" so that material can flow down from the upper mounted "Slide-Gate" Hopper. Again, in order to keep costs to our customers as low as possible we suggest that the hole be cut after receiving by the customer's maintenance department. The hole needs to be at least 12" diameter. (One customer did something that we now recommend. Purchase locally a 12 - 13" diameter by 2" deep normal metal cake baking pan. Use the base as a template, and then cut the hole slightly larger - but not as large as the top diameter. The pan is then used as "a cap" for the hole, and if the processing line has been stopped for a period of time, a small handful of the raw material can be placed into the pan to help identify the hoppers contents.)
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14) Why don’t you offer larger capacity hopper? The size of hoppers that we offer is based on the consideration of several factors. The first being that the footprint is very close to the same as the area that our customers currently allow by their processing machines (for currently used Gaylords). The footprint is also one that can allow shipping double stacked / double wide within the constraints of Common Carrier Box trailer trucks. We also have considered the weight when stacked 2 high as being a "safe weight" for our customers fork lift operators to manage when moving filled hoppers around the plant, or in & out of trailer trucks. Larger size hoppers could be made available - for special order at additional cost.
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